HELENA, MT – Secretary of State and Chief Elections Officer Linda McCulloch announced on Friday that eSERS, the Secretary of State’s Electronic Statewide Election Reporting Service, generated more than 2.46 million hits from online users accessing 2010 General Election results.

“Traffic to the site began immediately after the polls closed and didn’t slow down until Wednesday morning,” McCulloch said. “We’ve received a lot of great feedback, but it is truly the county election officials who deserve positive recognition. Without their support, eSERS would not be possible.”

The system relies on county election officials to electronically enter election results into the system on election night. Within a few minutes, those results are then reported publicly on the eSERS website.

“By allowing voters to see results all the way down to the precinct level, this system is the most comprehensive statewide election results service available to the public on election night,” McCulloch said. “Every vote counts, and now folks can see the elections process working from start to finish.”

The service is now being used by county election officials to prepare and finalize their county election canvass, which must be completed no later than November 16. For the first time in Montana, the General Election canvass will be a fully electronic process, saving time and money for county election officials.

The unofficial results from the 2010 General Election on November 2 will be available to the public at sos.mt.gov until the state canvass is completed later this month.

The Secretary of State’s Office used a system analyzer to compile the data regarding traffic to the site. Staff use and repeated use by the same computer within a 30-minute time frame is not included in the data. Repeated use includes refreshing the screen.